ABUJA – The General Secretary, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, on Monday in Abuja, said strike remained the last option to addressing industrial disputes in the country.
Ozo-Eson told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview that incessant strikes in the country were as a result of non-implementation of agreements reached between government and workers.
He, however, noted that “strike is always the last resort; what the worker has is his labour power and what distinguishes a worker from a slave is that he or she has the freedom to withdraw the labour power at any given time.
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“When that freedom is not there, then you are no longer a worker but a slave and compulsorily, you must work. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
“Therefore, the issue of strike in this country is unfortunate because people only hear when the announcement of strike is being made and not the procedures that led to the strike.’’
The general secretary said it was sad that the public did not take cognisance of meetings held before agreements were reached.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
“The public does not hear of how many meetings have taken place and the agreements reached and the authorities’ refusal to implement them.’’[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
According to him, such meetings may go on for a year or two without public notice.
“Even when letters are being written or the press is being addressed, people do not pay attention, it is only when strike starts that people start complaining,’’ he said.
He said there had been a lot of major strikes in the country such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), among others.
The NLC scribe added that he was aware of the process that led to such strikes, noting that “certainly strike remains the instrument of last resort to any dispute as it concerned industrial unions in the country.’’ (NAN)